Mothers who breastfeed have a two-thirds lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s in later life, compared with women who never breastfeed their children, according to a study.

The longer the duration of breastfeeding, the more protection is gained by the mother, say researchers at Cambridge University.

They interviewed 81 British mothers aged between 70 and 100, who included women with and without Alzheimer’s. The team also spoke to relatives, spouses and carers.

Cambridge University researchers found women who breastfed had a 64 per cent reduced Alzheimer's Disease risk compared with women who did not. Longer breastfeeding cut the risk still further

Through these interviews, the
researchers collected information about the women’s reproductive
history, their breastfeeding history and their dementia status.

All of this information was then
compared with the participants’ breastfeeding history. Despite the small
number of participants, the study revealed a number of clear links
between breastfeeding and Alzheimer’s.

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These were not affected when the
researchers took into account potential variables such as age, education
history, the age when the woman first gave birth, her age at
menopause, and smoking and drinking history, says a report in the
Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The researchers found women who
breastfed had a 64 per cent reduced Alzheimer’s risk compared with
women who did not.Longer breastfeeding cut the risk further.

The study found women who breastfed
for a year had 78 per cent of the risk of Alzheimer’s of a woman who
breastfed for four months.

One theory is that breastfeeding restores hormone levels, including insulin tolerance which dips during pregnancy, which may make the brain more vulnerable to Alzheimer's

And doing more breastfeeding offset the higher risk of Alzheimer’s linked to more months of pregnancy.

However, the protective benefits were far less for women who had a parent or sibling with dementia.

One theory is breastfeeding deprives the body of the hormone
progesterone, which is known to desensitise the brain’s oestrogen
receptors, making it more difficult for oestrogen to protect the brain
against Alzheimer’s.

Another possibility is that
breastfeeding increases a woman’s glucose tolerance by restoring her
insulin sensitivity after pregnancy.

Dr Molly Fox, of the Department of
Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, who led the
study, said: ‘Alzheimer’s is the world’s most common cognitive disorder
and it already affects 35.6million people.

‘In the future, we expect it to
spread most in low and middle-income countries. So it is vital that we
develop low-cost, large-scale strategies to protect people against this
devastating disease.’

'The worrying thing is that this older generation spent more time breastfeeding - only one per cent of mothers in Britain today breastfeed exclusively for six months,' said Dr Simon Ridley of Alzheimer's Research UK

She said the study was not able to
compare the Alzheimer’s risk in mothers, whether they breastfed or not,
and women who remained childless. But previous research suggested not
having children might be linked with poorer cognitive function in old
age, she added.

Dr Fox went on: ‘The worrying thing
is that this older generation spent more time breastfeeding. Only one
per cent of mothers in Britain today breastfeed exclusively for six
months.’

Dr Simon Ridley, the head of research
at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said ‘Preliminary studies like this one are
important for highlighting associations worthy of further study, but we
shouldn’t be quick to jump to conclusions quite yet.’